A. Field of Invention
This invention generally relates to gripping devices, and more precisely to a small hand carried flexible and resilient gripping member structured for assisting in the manual pulling of an arrow from a target, the gripping member coupled with a release device.
B. Description of Related Art
Bowstring releases have grown rapidly in popularity for target shooting and for hunting. A good release provides uniform and consistent release of the bowstring and thus increases accuracy. The release is typically either hand-held or strapped to the wrist and is provided with a trigger that permits the archer to activate a string retaining and releasing mechanism.
When target shooting, pulling arrows from a target is a particular problem. Pulling arrows from a target has become more difficult with the increasingly popular three-dimensional animal targets now in use, in addition to traditional foam, straw, or other targets. These life sized 3-Dimensional targets are made of rigid urethane foam and structured to appear like live animals such as deer, elk or smaller animals such as turkeys. Targets such as those sold by McKenzie Sports Products Inc. are designed to self-heal or close up holes created by arrow and arrow head penetration. The self-healing action, although desirable for minimizing target wear and tear, increases frictional resistance between the target material and an arrow shaft.
The increased power produced by modern compound bows also embeds the arrows deeper into the target, making the arrows even more difficult to pull out. In addition, modern carbon arrows present a smaller diameter, increasing the depth of penetration, and increasing the surface area of the arrow shaft presented to the target for frictional resistance. Arrows become embedded into the targets sufficiently so that it is often difficult to pull the arrows out by hand.
When shooting, an archer usually wears the release on the archer's dominant hand; i.e., a right handed archer wears the release on the right hand. When target shooting, the archer releases arrows directed at a target and then must retrieve the arrows from the target. Ordinarily, archers generally prefer to remove the arrows from the target with the palm and/or fingers of their dominant hand, often while holding the target in place with the archer's weak hand. However, the fingers and palm of the dominant hand are often obstructed by the release, necessitating that the archer reposition the release from a firing position to an out-of-the-way position, so that the archer can properly grip the arrow shaft. If a glove-type release is used, such as the Tru-Fire BearPaw release, the archer must ordinarily completely remove the release from the hand in order to grip the arrow shaft adequately.
The skin on an archer's palm presents a more frictionally resistant surface than the release because of the materials that are traditionally used during manufacturing. However, the release generally obstructs the archer's palm. If the archer does not remove the release, the release is typically unable to provide an adequate frictional surface because the release is often constructed of soft fabric that provides very little frictional resistance, such as fleece, nylon, canvas or Saddle-Cloth.RTM. fabric.
Because archers often shoot a series of arrows, retrieve the arrows, and then shoot another series of arrows when target shooting, removing the release from the hand and replacing the release on the hand becomes tedious between repetitions.
The primary problem is getting a good grip on the arrow shaft without the hands slipping, or in providing sufficient pulling pressure with a slippery grip.
To solve this problem, archers and hunters often use a frictionally adhesive piece of flat sheet material, such as synthetic rubber or plastic, to help provide a better grip over the arrow shaft and assist in pulling the arrow. Excessive gripping or squeezing strength is still required to remove the arrow from the target, and this solution also leads to archers losing the frictionally adhesive piece of flat sheet material because it is not attached to anything.
Although there have been devices provided in the past for assisting in pulling arrows from targets such as the rubbery flat sheet material mentioned above, the structure disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,926 issued to Ravencroft, and a device known commercially as the "Gorilla Grip," these devices are not operatively disposed on the release. Instead, the archer must still move the release out of the firing position, or must remove the release from the hand altogether, or must run the risk of losing the arrow puller or forgetting to bring the arrow puller to the firing range.